I am really impressed. I originally thought that Orser was not going to be a good coach for Hanyu, and I was not totally impressed with the direction he appeared to be taking with his exhibition skates in the off season. Looking back, I am sorry for many of my previous blogs that were critical. I have never had any doubt since last year's worlds, however, that Hanyu has it in him to be the greatest skater of our lifetime. He may even be the best (he is "crazy good") now, but this I am sure of: He is going to get even better. And for right now, Orser seems to be doing something right and Hanyu is really making fantastic improvements where he has to. He is pacing himself better and he is becoming more consistent. And he can now skate a great short program (which I always thought was his weaker program competitively, although to me that never made sense given his spirit). The only criticism I have is not directed to him so much as it is to the choreography of his long program. His present long program seems to lack life. It seems to be "droopy", not a Hanyu program. However, perhaps he will find a way over the season to pick it up and give it some punch. (He got ever better at the Romeo and Juliet skate over the season last year.) As well, this present long program might be good for him in teaching him how to increase his stamina. But, yes, it really fails in being a good piece of choreography. Now, here is the thing: Even though we expect him to improve, he probably already is the best. Kudos to Orser, in inspiring Hanyu and working on places where he needed working. Sorry for doubting you. Kudos to Hanyu, for continuing to work really hard. As you become more technical, be careful not to lose your energetic enthusiastic spirit in the long program (which right now is kind of droopy). I don't think anyone can ever catch this kid in competition as long as he can keep his spirit.

It's amazing, couldn't find any more vocabularies other than repeat the word amazing, to see that such slim, seemed fragile body could do this much athletically! Hanyu is a huge talent. I think it's a right move for Hanyu to go to Orser. And the reward in such a short term could be seen already. I give this credit to his new coach Orser.

One can't expect the situation change for the better completely suddenly. If anyone questions about whether it's a right coaching change, I think questioning about Michal Brezina's coaching change is a better one, though it's another topic.

Anyway, looking forward to seeing Takahashi and Hanyu's competing each other at NHK!

Orser seems to do well with skaters who have a ton of raw talent but needs polish or improvement in the details. Not to mention the man's a major COP master that can rack up the points. He has Hanyu doing three really hard combos in the SECOND half of the program along with a billion transitions in between. We didn't see it at Skate America--but man when that program is at its full potential...watch out!